Did I mention I filled out the first online survey in the Interweave Knits Advisory Panel a few weeks ago? It was all about their advertisers alas. I fear this whole "reader advisory panel" concept is a way to help their advertisers and has nothing to do with improving the magazine itself. Oh well...



I ordered a bunch of new patterns from Naked Sheep. I ordered some cute baby patterns for no particular reason and then the same day I found out my good friend Lisa was pregnant again. I guess it was meant to be. I really want to make this Dale of Norway gardening/bunny theme toddler sweater HERE. I like the combo of black and pastels and of course the matching hat is necessary also.



Am I the last person on the planet to know that Herrschners has yarn sales every week? The sales are pretty decent and they always have some of my favorite "basic" yarns on sale. Two weeks ago I bought one skein in all the sale colors they had of Nature Spun sport weight (I think they were $1.99 each) and today I bought enough Nature Spun Worsted (on sale for $3.29 a skein) for Na Craga for DH. Or perhaps a nice afghan for Jack the cat.

It is so brown here - I hope we get lots of rain soon.







I spoke too soon about the chart for the Paradoxical Mittens being finicky. It is actually quite easy knitting that you can memorize - you just have to figure out when the diamonds start but otherwise the knitting will just fly off the needles. So the chart is indeed non-repetive but not complicated as I originally thought. I'm sure I will need more yarn to finish them though so I will order that today. 2 skeins of Jamieson & Smith jumperweight will not do it.



I doubt I'll keep these mittens for myself. They will go in the knitting box - my solution for knitting for others. I put various items in a container and let friends and family choose what they want. That way I don't end up knitting items on demand or knitting things I don't like. The only item currently in the knitting box is the Bea Ellis Telemark headband.

The Bunnies & Carrots hats are from by Barb Telford at Woodsmoke Woolworks. She was kind enough to give me permission to knit them for sale by the House Rabbit Society's Colorado shelter. These hats are just one of many adorable designs she has for sale through Naked Sheep. Check out the Blue Jays & Cherries hat, the Lady Bug hat and the Sheep hat.









The Bunnies & Carrots hat is done in worsted weight and can be done in any size from baby to adult large, with or without ear flaps. If you decide to knit this particular hat, I have a recommendation. Start the ear flaps with your I-cord, then directly go from there to the bottom of the ear flap and then knit the ear flaps on the rim of the hat as specified. I made this hat for a four year old who managed to lose the cords to the ear flaps the first day he wore the hat so this method may help counteract that problem. In the photo above, the green hat was done in this method but the brown one simply had the I-cord cords attached to the ear flaps.



Also, don't strand the yarn between the bunnies because you will get puckering. This will result in some long floats but will look a lot better. You can tack down the long floats later if the hat will be for a child. If you hate bobbles (the bunny's tails are bobbles) you can double or triple your yarn and just do French knots instead. (Scroll down to yesterday's photo and look at the teal hat - I did the French knot tails instead of bobbles for that one only.)



I had some difficulty finding orange worsted weight wool yarn for the carrots - Nature Spun worsted from Patternworks is the yarn I finally used for the carrots. Cascade 220 also sells about three different shades of orange which would work for carrots.



I stuffed the carrots with plain old cotton balls and I only used one for each of these particular hats to speed up the knitting. The pattern actually has three carrots on top of the hat and one each at the bottom of the cords. Woodsmoke Woolworks also sells an absolutely adorable Bunnies & Carrots Hooded Baby Jacket pattern which I want to make also for the HRS to sell or auction off.